Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Hyacinthe Rigaud

Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the

Place des Victoires The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six street ...

(1684–1690);

Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is ...

(1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the

Grand Trianon The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his '' maîtresse- ...

of the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. His monumental work was designed to glorify the reign of

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

Biography

Born Jules Hardouin in Paris in 1646, he studied under his renowned great-uncle

François Mansart François Mansart (; 23 January 1598 – 23 September 1666) was a French architect credited with introducing classicism into Baroque architecture of France. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' cites him as the most accomplished of 17th-century Fr ...

, one of the originators of the classical tradition in French architecture; Hardouin inherited Mansart's collection of plans and drawings and added Mansart's name to his own in 1668. He began his career as an entrepreneur in building construction, in partnership with his brother Michel, but then decided in 1672 to devote himself entirely to architecture. In 1674 he became one of the group of royal architects working for Louis XIV. His first important project was the Château de Clagny, built for the King's consort,

Madame de Montespan Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

. He quickly showed he was a master of bureaucratic diplomacy as well as design and construction; he gained the protection and support of Madame de Montespan, then François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the Minister of War. He studied under and then collaborated with landscape designer

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gard ...

, before finally working directly with the King himself. In 1677 he began working on the expansion of the royal

, a project which occupied him for the rest of his life. Soon afterward became a member of the Royal Academy of Architecture. In 1678 he became director of the work at Versailles. and the most prominent architect in the royal entourage. He was named First Architect of the King in 1681 and was raised to the nobility in 1682. He became intendant of the King in 1685, and royal inspector-general of buildings 1691, under the elderly superintendent of buildings, Villacerf, whom he finally replaced in 1699. He owed his rise not just for his ability to please his patron with his designs, but especially because of his ability to manage enormous and complex projects with many elements and designers. He would sketch out an idea; stand back and intervene and adjust when needed, from time to time to visit the site, and to see that the budget was kept under control. In the latter part of his career he left more of the details to the architects who worked under him, notably

Robert de Cotte Robert de Cotte (1656 – 15 July 1735) was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Ha ...

, who was his chosen successor. He was given the title of Count of Sagonne in 1702, but died six months later at the royal residence of Marly.

Style

Hardouin-Mansart was the leading master of the architectural style that became known as the

Louis XIV style The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the official ...

or French classicism. A particular skill of Hardouin was his ability to create a wide variety of structures; chateaux, churches, pavilions, private residences, parks, and urban squares. He demonstrated an ability to adapt, modify, enlarge and rehabilitate, without losing the character of the original building, but adding his own original variations on the theme, as he demonstrated in particular at the

. Much of his success was due to his ability to select and guide very talented collaborators. his collaborators included the interior designer

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun ( baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist ...

, who designed many of the interiors of Versailles, in perfect harmony with his architecture, and

, a designer who also became his brother-in-law and in 1708 became his successor, completing the major projects he had begun in the Palace of Versailles. His architecture is especially characterized by simplification; by large smooth spaces, the repetition of forms (especially arcades with semicircular arches and detached columns; long horizontals, and detached open spaces. He often used long rows of columns in front of a facade to give an air of grandeur and to hide the irregularities of the structure. He used the architectural orders to give a special majesty to interior surfaces, particularly in the chapel of Versailles, and the interiors of the

and the

. He was adept at creating a sense of awe, as he demonstrated especially in the dome of Les Invalides and in the garden facade of the

, and in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

Major works

Les Invalides

Image:Les Invalides in Paris.jpg, Church of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris (1676–1691) File:L'architecture. Le passé.-Le présent (1916) - Flickr 14778212605.jpg, The outer dome conceals an inner dome, visible from below File:De La Fosse's allegories on the dome over the Napoleone's tomb.jpg, Inner dome of Les Invalides, seen from below File:Colonnade des Invalides.jpg, Hardouin-Mansard's plan for a curving colonnade of Les Invalides, not completed (1700) On March 1, 1676, François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the Minister of War, summoned Hardouin-Mansart to take over construction of Les Invalides, the enormous hospital and chapel the King was building in the center of Paris for his pensioned and wounded soldiers. The project had been begun in 1671 by

Libéral Bruant Libéral Bruant (''ca'' 1635 – Paris, 22 November 1697), was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, which is now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier ...

, and some of the residential buildings were completed and already occupied, but the centerpiece, the chapel for the soldiers, had not been begun. The King was not satisfied with the plans that were offered to him by Bruant, and complained about the slowness of the work. On March 1, 1676, Louvois dismissed Bruant and summoned Hardouin-Mansart, who was little known outside the royal household, and asked him to take over the church. The chapel originally planned by Bruant for the veterans was relatively modest in size and decoration. Hardouin-Mansart proposed a much more grandiose project with two adjoining parts; a choir for the pensioners, and a majestic domed royal church for the King. This was beyond what the Minister had proposed, but it apparently pleased the King, and, after long discussion, Hardouin-Mansart was given the project not only for the church, but for the Hôtel as well. Hardouin-Mansart briskly organized and completed the construction of residences and infirmaries for the pensioners. In 1676 he began work on the choir, the portion of the church intended for the pensioners. By the summer of 1677 the roof was in place, and in April 1678 he was able to order the woodwork of the stalls, and in 1679, the cabinetry for the organ. The work on the royal chapel proceeded more slowly. Its distinctive feature was the dome, one of the earliest constructed in Paris, following the church of the

Val-de-Grâce The (' or ') was a military hospital located at in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was closed as a hospital in 2016. History The church of the was built by order of Queen Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. After the birth of he ...

, designed by his great-uncle, and (1645–1667), and the

Collège des Quatre-Nations The Collège des Quatre-Nations ("College of the Four Nations"), also known as the Collège Mazarin after its founder, was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It was founded through a bequest by the Cardinal Mazarin. At his d ...

(1662–1670). His original plan called for a single great space under the dome, and painted decoration on the interior of the dome. However, while the work was in progress, the French army suffered reverses in the Netherlands, and the superintendent of finances, Colbert, was slow in providing funding. Hardouin-Mansart had to modify the original plan, eliminating the painted ceiling, and redesigning the dome with an interior dome, not visible from the outside. He mounted the dome on two successive drums, giving it greater height than the earlier Paris domes. He commissioned the sculptor

François Girardon François Girardon (10 March 1628 – 1 September 1715) was a French sculptor of the Louis XIV style or French Baroque, best known for his statues and busts of Louis XIV and for his statuary in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. Biography ...

to make statues illustrating the themes of the building, the virtues of the Saints and the French Kings. By 1690 a large group of sculptors was at work at statues for the niches of the facade. The war was followed by a financial crisis; work was halted entirely in 1695, and did not resume until the war ended in 1699. Once the war ended, constructed resumed, and the royal chapel was finally consecrated, in the presence of the King, on 22 August 1706, not long before the death of Hardouin-Mansart. It remains his most famous work.

The Palace of Versailles

File:Chateau Versailles Galerie des Glaces.jpg, Hall of Mirrors of the

(1680) File:Le Palace du Roi.jpg, The Orangerie at the

(1684–86) File:Versailles Grand Trianon.jpg,

in Versailles (1687) From 1677 until his death, Hardouin-Mansart was responsible for the design and construction of much of the

of Louis XIV. He succeeded the royal architect Louis Le Vau and became the ''surintendant des

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtimen ...

'' (Superintendent of royal buildings). Beginning in 1678, he completed the "envelope" of new buildings surrounding the original Chateau by Louis XIII, which had been begun by his predecessor, Louis Le Vau. He transformed the first-floor terrace of the Palace overlooking the garden, into the celebrated Hall of Mirrors, richly decorated by his collaborator, the artist

. He also reconstructed the facade of the first floor facing the marble courtyard, giving it large arched windows and bringing in more light, and added new central residential wing, also with larger windows, for the royal family. To house the growing number of staff and servants in the Chateau, he built the Grand Commun (1682–85), and for the horses and carriages of the royal household constructed two palatial stables on the city-side of the Palace (finished in 1682). His later additions to the Palace included the Orangerie (1684–86), halfway underground at the end of south wing, accessed by two monumental stairways and opening onto its own sunken garden. Toward the end of his life he built a separate smaller one-story palace, the

(1687) as a refuge for the King from the noise and ceremony of the court. His final project at Versilles was the chapel (1699–1710), which was carefully integrated into the architecture of the south wing.

Royal Squares

File:Place de la Victoire, Paris 13 August 2016 001.jpg,

, Paris File:P1040419 Paris Ier place Vendôme immeubles n°18 20 22 24 et 26 rwk.JPG, Angled buildings with frontons at corners give variety to

in Paris File:20151104 dijon017.jpg, The Place Royale in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...

Hardouin-Mansard was also an important urban designer, the creator of two notable Paris residential squares. Both squares, the

(1685) and

(1699), were designed, like his other architecture, to express the majesty and glory of Louis XIV. The Place des Victoires was built as a setting for a monument to Louis XIV, surrounded by a circle of harmonious matching residential buildings. The original statue was melted down after the Revolution, and replaced later by a copy; while the square was much altered in later years, with the addition of traverse streets and buildings in a different style. The later Place Vendôme was a larger square, but Hardouin-Mansard broke the rigid box shape with corner buildings facing inward, decorated with ornamental pediments.

Chateaux

File:Jules Hardouin-Mansart, élévation du corps central du château de Clagny - Archives nationales.jpg, Elevation of the central pavilion of the Château de Clagny, built for

(1674–1680)] File:Château de Dampierre en 2013 16.jpg,

Château de Dampierre The Château de Dampierre is a castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the '' Vallée de Chevreuse'', France. Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1675–1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, it is a French Baroque château of med ...

File:Chateau de Marly Entree a.jpg,

Château de Marly The Château de Marly was a French royal residence located in what is now Marly-le-Roi, the commune on the northern edge of the royal park. This was situated west of the palace and garden complex at Versailles. Marly-le-Roi is the town that deve ...

File:Lycee Michelet Vanves pavillon Mansart vu parc.jpg, Pavillon Mansart in

Vanves Vanves () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris ...

File:Saint Germain en Laye, Chateau du Val, facade.jpg, Chateau du Val in Saint Germain en Laye, a former hunting lodge sadly remodeled (1674) File:Grande Coupole de Meudon.jpg, Chateau of Meudon (1705), burned in 1871 and transformed into an observatory after 1877 His most prominent position in France put him in place to create many of the significant monuments of the period, and to set the tone for the restrained French Late

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

architectural style, somewhat chastened by

academic detailing Academic detailing is "university or non-commercial-based educational outreach." The process involves face-to-face education of prescribers by trained health care professionals, typically pharmacists, physicians, or nurses. The goal of academic deta ...

, that was influential as far as Saint Petersburg and even echoed in Constantinople. At the same time, the size of support staff in his official bureaucratic position has often raised criticisms that he was less than directly responsible for the work that was constructed under his name, criticisms that underestimate the discipline control within a large, classically trained studio. Hardouin-Mansart used the mansard roof (''mansarde''), named for his great-uncle François Mansart, at the château of Dampierre-en-Yvelines, built for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, a patron at the center of Louis XIV's court. This French

château of manageable size lies ''entre cour et jardin'' as even Versailles did, the paved and gravel forecourt (''cour d'honneur'') protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, and enclosed by the main block and its outbuildings (''corps de logis''), linked by balustrades, symmetrically disposed. A traditional French touch is the modest pedimented entrance flanked by boldly projecting pavilions. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former parterres, now grass. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by

. There are sumptuous interiors. The small scale makes it easier to compare to the approximately contemporary

Het Loo Het Loo Palace ( nl, Paleis Het Loo , meaning "The Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau. History The symmetrical Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman and Johan van Swieten and was bui ...

(Netherlands), for

William III of Orange William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from t ...

. He died at

Marly-le-Roi Marly-le-Roi () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the administrative region of Île-de-France, France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Marly-le-Roi was the location of the Château de Marly, th ...

in 1708.

Gallery

Image:Jules Hardouin Mansart by Lemoyne.jpg, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, marble bust by

Jean-Louis Lemoyne Jean-Louis Lemoyne (1665–1755) was a French sculptor whose works were commissioned by Louis XIV and Louis XV. His sculptures are featured in major art museums, including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, the ...

Image:Jules Hardouin-Mansart.jpg, Portrait of Hardouin-Mansart by

François de Troy François de Troy ( 28 February 1645 – 1 May 1730) was a French painter and engraver who became principal painter to King James II in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Director of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. Early lif ...

. File:Maison Boucheron 1.JPG,

in Paris by Hardouin-Mansart. File:Visit of Louis XIV at Saint Cyr.jpg,

Maison royale de Saint-Louis The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a boarding school for girls set up on 15 June 1686 at Saint-Cyr (what is now the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École, Yvelines) in France by king Louis XIV at the request of his second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Mar ...

at Saint Cyr (1684)

List and dates of notable works

* Hôtel de Conti, a town house within La Monnaie in Paris (1669) * Château de Clagny (1675–1683) *

** 1677 : The Bosquet des Dômes (1677) ** 1678 à 1684 : The Gallery of Mirrors (1678–1689) ** The facade facing the park, and north and center wings (1679–89) ** The small and the Grand Stables, and the new Orangerie (1684–1686) ** The

(1687) ** The Royal Chapel (1698–1710) ** The Church of Notre-Dame de Versailles (1698–1710) *

(1677–99) *

(1679–1684) – demolished after Revolution). * City Hall of Nemours ((1669) (formerly the Convent of the Congregation of Notre-Dame) * City Hall of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

(1676) * Château de Vall (1674–1677) * City hall of

(1676) * Château de la Chaize in Odenas (1676) * Pavillon de Manse, at

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

1676–1680 * Church of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides and a portion of the Hôtel des Invalides (1676–1706) * Episcopal Palace of

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Langue ...

(1677–1679) * Rebuilding of the

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a former royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the ''département'' of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the ''musée d'Archéologie nationale'' (Natio ...

(1680) * Hôtel de Beauvillier at Versailles (1681) * Hôtel Colbert de Croissy at Versailles (1682) *

, in

Dampierre-en-Yvelines Dampierre-en-Yvelines is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The Castle of Dampierre-en-Yvelines One of the main features of the commune is the prominently featured castle, or Chateau, ...

(1682–1684) * Hôtel de Chevreuse in Versailles (1683) * Completion of the Chapel of the

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cl ...

(1684) * Château de Boury in

Boury-en-Vexin Boury-en-Vexin (, literally ''Boury in Vexin'') is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department * Vexin Vexin () is an historical county of northwestern France. It covers a ve ...

(1685) * Rebuilding of the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy,

(1685) *

, Paris (1686) * The orangerie of the château de Sceaux (1686) * The

, at

Saint-Cyr-l'École Saint-Cyr-l'École () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It used to host the training school for officers of the French army, the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM), which w ...

(1686) * Plans for the , in

(1687–1692) * Church of Saint-Vigor in

(1688–1689) * Plans for the Château de L'Isle in the Swiss Canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital c ...

* Reconstruction of the Church of Saint-Louis, Poissy (1695–1708) * Rebuilding of the

Château de Meudon Meudon Castle, also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon or Imperial Palace of Meudon, is a French castle located in Meudon in the Hauts-de-Seine department. At the edge of a wooded plateau, the castle offers views of Paris and the Seine, as wel ...

for the Grand Dauphin (1698–1704) * Château de Vanves, now the administrative building of Lycée Michelet (Vanves) (1698) * Reconstruction of City Hall of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

(1701–1703) * Eglise Saint-Roch, Paris (1701–1722)

Notes and citations

Bibliography

* * * * *